


And The World Will Know

by Actualplanetpluto



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-08-10 15:25:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7850350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Actualplanetpluto/pseuds/Actualplanetpluto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grantaire has received his first solo assignment as a reporter. Local students are protesting in the city and Grantaire is going to cover the story. <br/>(Mostly Enjoltaire)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"We are being held momentarily due to train traffic ahead," the recorded voice repeated for the third time.   
Grantaire wanted to scream.   
He had finally been given a real assignment and he was wasting time trapped in a metal worm that wouldn't fucking move!  
He checked his press pass for the thousandth time (he had an actual press pass!!!), read through the questions he had prepared again and double checked the walking directions and after seven minutes (which felt like 75 minutes) the train started moving again.   
At long last, he stepped out into the city streets. He walked for a few minutes and there they were.   
Behind a police line, hundreds of young people were sitting in the middle of the road, blocking the way. A group of about ten people walked among the protesters, speaking and encouraging, clearly the leaders.   
"You'll fit in there," Boss had said. "They won't talk to a real adult."  
Grantaire approached one of the officers and pulled out his pass. The officer stepped aside and he passed through.   
Almost immediately, one of the walkers approached him, smiling. "Hey, I'm Feuilly. You are?"  
"Grantaire. I'm with the press."  
Feuilly's smile dimmed a bit. "Alright. I'll take you to the boss."  
Feuilly led him through the crowd towards where a beautiful young man in a red jacket was talking loudly to a large group of people.   
"We can't just wait anymore!" He was saying. "We can't just keep quiet! It isn't 'gonna happen someday' unless we make it happen!"  
The crowd cheered and the man stopped, looking around proudly.   
"E, this is Grantaire. He's with the press."  
"Hello, Grantaire. I'm Enjolras. How can I help you?"  
"Can I ask you a few questions?"  
"Of course."  
"Can you explain what's happening here?"  
"They didn't tell you?"  
"No. Boss says to go in with nothing. A real reporter finds the story."  
"Alright. We're protesting for marriage equality."  
"Marriage equality?"  
"We want same sex marriage legalized. Many states have already gotten on board but ours seems very hesitant."  
"Why here?"  
Enjolras looked at him a little funny. "You really came here clueless. This building is City Hall. People come here to get married."  
"And by blocking it-?"  
Enjolras shook his head. "We're not blocking it. We're waiting on line."  
Grantaire looked up, startled, from the notes he was taking. "So, everyone here is waiting to have a same sex wedding? Who're you here with?"  
"Not all of us. Some of us are waiting to be witnesses for a friends wedding. And I'm single."  
"Oh, good," he said absentmindedly, jotting down another line. "Wait, no," he said looking up flustered at Enjolras, who looked faintly amused. "Not good you're single. I mean- I just meant- I was to busy writing to pay attention to what I was saying."  
"No problem. What else can I help you with?"  
"Can I talk to some of the other people here?"  
"Sure."


	2. Chapter 2

The sky was beginning to darken by the time he was finished. As he turned to leave, another one of the walkers approached him.   
"Grantaire, right? I'm Combferre. We're eating over there," he said, gesturing off to a far side of the crowd. "Enjolras wants you to join us for dinner, if you've got time."  
Grantaire allowed himself to be led through the crowd to a small knot of people. The walkers.   
Enjolras stood up and smiled when he saw him approaching. "Grantaire," he said, clasping his hand and sitting again, pulling Grantaire down with him. "Please meet Joly, Bossuet, Marius, Jehan, Courfeyrac, Bahorel and I believe you've already met Feuilly?" He pointed to each one in turn.   
"Nice to meet you all," he said, feeling a little out of place in what was clearly an established group of friends. "So, what's for supper?"  
"It'll be here soon. How's the article coming along?" Combferre asked, sitting down between Enjolras and Courfeyrac  
"I haven't had a chance to write it, but I think I have all the material I need."  
As he spoke, a young woman carrying two large bags came and squeezed in next to Joly. "I got Chinese," she said, opening the bags. "You must be Grantaire," she said, passing him one of the containers. "Muschietta."  
"Hey."  
There was a bit of a commotion as everyone passed around the food and took what they wanted. Then everyone was eating. Combferre and Enjolras argued quietly, Joly and Muschietta were thoroughly engrossed in something Bossuet was showing them on his phone, Jehan had wandered off with a man wearing yellow pants (??), Feuilly and Bahorel were watching something on a laptop and Marius was very busy with his food.   
Grantaire looked around at this group of friends and thought about the empty apartment he'd be returning to tonight.   
"I'm going to marry him," someone said beside him. Grantaire turned to Courfeyrac who was staring at the arguing pair, with a look on his face that was completely foreign to the reporter. "We've been together a long time," he said, smiling at Grantaire. "Sometimes I can't believe he even looks at me. He's so perfect. You understand?"  
Grantaire followed his gaze back to the pair. "A little."  
Grantaire glanced at his watch and grabbed his bag. "I should be going," he said, and they all turned to him. "I have to type up this article. It was nice meeting you all."  
"Why don't you stay the night?" Feuilly offered. "You can use my laptop for the article.   
"You're all sleeping here?" Grantaire asked in surprise.   
"Yeah. I mean it's not like we can take a break from our strike," Bahorel said.   
Grantaire thought again of the empty apartment. He looked around at the group and then at the hundreds of people surrounding him.   
"Fine," he said. "Does anyone have a spare sleeping bag."


	3. Chapter 3

Grantaire ran into the office the next morning. He hadn't slept much, hasn't showered and hadn't changed clothes from the day before.   
But he had gotten his article sent in on time.   
It had made it to print.   
Grantaire didn't notice the way his coworkers were looking at him. He grabbed the newspaper from his desk and flipped through it to find his article.   
He nearly dropped the paper, sitting down heavily in his chair.   
"Rioting Perverts Shut Down Weddings," a voice said dramatically from the seat beside him. "Nice headline."  
"I didn't write this," he said, turning to the other intern.   
"I know. Boss did. He didn't much like your article."  
"But-"  
"What got into your head?" She whispered angrily. "You knew that wasn't the article he wanted! This was your chance!"  
"What he's written isn't true!" He answered desperately. "It isn't right! Cosette-"  
"News isn't true! News isn't right! Javert's article is the news our readers want. And you knew that." She sighed. "You've always been able to write the bs you needed to write. But when it matters..." She trailed off.   
"Hey R, another intern said, coming up behind him. "Javert wants you in his office."


	4. Chapter 4

Grantaire got off the train and made his way back to protest.   
Thankfully the officer from the the previous day was still there, so he was waved through.   
He spotted Bahorel first. He waved, but got no response. Assuming Bahorel simply couldn't see him, he moved on, heading for Enjolras.   
"Why are you here?" Joly asked, looking at him a bit sadly.   
"Get the hell out of here, you bastard!" Courfeyrac said angrily, coming up behind him. "How dare you come back here!"  
"Not worried you'll be attacked by the rioting perverts?" Feuilly added. "Go home. Leave us alone."  
"I didn't write that!" He protested.   
"Really? Because you told us which paper you wrote for, your the only reporter from that paper to come here and guess what was in your paper?" Joly said.   
"Enough," Enjolras said, as he approached them. "Can I have a word Grantaire?" He asked.   
Enjolras led Grantaire to the far edge of the protest.   
"I understand why you did it," he said. He looked very tired and almost old. "I get it. Really. It's your job. I just don't understand why you stayed. Why you pretended to be our friend after you got what you needed. And I really don't get why you came back. All I'm asking is that you leave now, alright?"  
"I didn't write it."  
"Grantaire-"  
"I didn't!"  
"The article was in the paper you said it would be in. It contained exact quotes from our conversation."  
"But I wasn't listed as the writer!"  
"What proof have you given of your name? No. I don't want to see ID. Please, just go."  
~~~~~~~~~~  
Grantaire sat in his empty apartment staring at the bottle of whiskey on the table.   
It had been nearly two years since he'd quit drinking yet here he was. He'd lost his job. He's been shown a glimpse of friendship and acceptance only to have it yanked away. He'd made a complete ass of himself (to say the least) in front off he most beautiful, perfect person he'd ever seen.   
He picked up the bottle of whiskey and put it down again.   
He walked to his room and pulled out the sketchbook and pastels he hadn't touched in four years.   
He began to color red.


	5. Chapter 5

Grantaire groaned in frustration and flipped to a new page in his sketchbook. It had been a month since the article and he was still slaving over his sketchbook, but nothing came out right.   
He could practically hear his old art teacher Mr. Alvarez gloating. ("This is what happens when you don't practice, class. You make crappy art.")   
Yet, he couldn't help feeling that it was more than a lack of practice. There was something about Enjolras he just couldn't trap on paper. Maybe it was his burning eyes, that R saw in his dreams at night. Maybe it was the strange aura he seemed to have, which pulled everyone in.   
Maybe it was R's tired, overactive brain misremembering and romanticizing a man he'd only met twice, his roommate pointed out helpfully.  
His roommate was a very smart woman.   
She had been lecturing him a lot lately, pretty much from the moment she'd returned from vacation."   
"Get another job, asshole, I'm not gonna pay your half of the rent. "  
"You realize your descriptions of him don't even sound human, right?"  
"Are you sure you didn't hallucinate this bastard altogether?"  
"If he's so pretty, at least let me see the paintings!"  
"Forget him already. You spoke to the guy twice."  
(Who was she to talk anyway? He thought angrily. She was in love with 'that-sweet-guy-from-the-coffee-shop-who's-name-I-don't-know')  
She wasn't the only one. Cosette had dropped by three separate times to yell at him for not trying to get his job back.   
"He didn't really want to fire you! He just wanted you to say you were wrong and apologize! So apologize! This was your dream job and you can get it back."  
"Well I don't want it," he retorted angrily. "No. I can't want it. Journalism is supposed to be true."  
Nevertheless, they were right. He did need a job. Spending his time locked up in his room surrounded by a million mediocre portraits of Enjolras was not doing anything good for his mental health.  
"You're right, Eponine. But where can I get a job?"  
"At the coffee shop with me," she said, gleefully. "But you'll have to do the sweeping because I have seniority."  
"There's an opening there?"  
"Have you heard a word I've said in the last two weeks?"  
"...no."

**Author's Note:**

> Hey. This is my first les mis fic. Hope you enjoyed.   
> thid will be a multi chapter fic and because I'm not good at schedule, the next chapter may be up tonight or tomorrow.   
> I will be posting another les mis fic today as well.   
> This story is set a few years ago, before same sex marriage was finally legalized across the states


End file.
